That knowing about the deployment by Trump of the national guard troops to demonstrations

President Donald Trump says that he deploys 2,000 troops of the California National Guard in Los Angeles for Respond to immigration demonstrationsOn the objections of the Governor of California Gavin Newsom.

This is not the first time that Trump has activated the National Guard to suppress demonstrations. In 2020, he asked Governors of several states to send troops to Washington, DC to respond to the demonstrations that were occurred after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Many governors he asked for accepted, sending troops to the federal district. Governors who refused the request were authorized to do so, keeping their troops on the ground at home.

This time, however, Trump acts in opposition to Newsom, which, in normal circumstances, would retain control and command of the California National Guard. While Trump said that the federalization of troops was necessary to “fight anarchy” in California, the Democratic Governor said that this decision was “deliberately inflammatory and would only worsen tensions.”

Here are some things to know when and how the president can deploy troops on American soil.

The laws are a bit vague

Generally, federal military forces are not authorized to exercise civil tasks for applying the law against American citizens, except in an emergency.

A law of the 18th century in wartime called the Insurrection act is the main legal mechanism that president can use to activate the military or the National Guard in times of rebellion or troubles. But Trump did not invoke the act of insurrection on Saturday.

Instead, he relied on a similar federal law which allows the president to Federalize the National Guard troops in certain circumstances. He federally has part of the California National Guard under what is called Title authority 10Who places him, not the governor, at the top of the chain of command, according to the Newsom office.

The National Guard is a hybrid entity which serves state and federal interests. Often it operates under the command and control of the state, using state financing. Sometimes, the national guard troops will be affected by their state to serve federal missions, remaining under command of the State but using federal funding.

THE Law quoted by the proclamation of Trump Place the troops of the National Guard under federal command. The law says that this can be done in three circumstances: when the United States is invaded or in danger of invasion; When there is a rebellion or a danger of rebellion against the authority of the American government, or when the president is unable to “execute the laws of the United States”, with regular forces.

But the law also indicates that orders for these purposes “will be issued through the governors of the States”. It is not immediately clear if the president can activate the troops of the National Guard without the order of the governor of this state.

The role of the national guard troops will be limited

In particular, Trump’s proclamation claims that the national guard troops will play a support role by protecting ice officers while applying the law, rather than asking the troops to carry out the application of the law.

Steve Vladeck, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center who specializes in military justice and national security law, said that it is because the troops of the National Guard cannot be legally engaged in ordinary activities of application of the law, unless Trump calls for the first time the law on the insurgency.

Vladeck said this decision increases the risk that the troops can end up using force while fulfilling this role of “protection”. This decision could also be a precursor for other deployments of more aggressive troops on the road, he wrote on Son website.

“There is nothing that these troops are not allowed to do so, for example, the ice officers against whom these demonstrations were directed could not do themselves,” wrote Vladeck.

The troops were mobilized before

The Insurrection Act and related laws were used during the era of civil rights to protect militants and students from schools. President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas to protect black students who joined the central High School after the governor of this state has activated the national guard to prevent students from going out.

George HW Bush used the Insurrection Act to respond to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of white police officers who were recorded by beating the black motorist Rodney King.

National Guard troops have been deployed for various emergencies, including the cocovid pandemic, hurricanes and other natural disasters. But generally, these deployments are carried out with the agreements of the governors of responding states.

Trump is ready to use the army on a home floor

In 2020, Trump asked the governors of several states to deploy their national guard troops in Washington, DC to stifle the demonstrations that occurred after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Many governors have accepted, sending troops to the federal district.

At the time, Trump too threatened to invoke the insurrection law For demonstrations after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis – an intervention rarely seen in modern American history. But secretary of defense of the time Mark Esper pushed backSaying that the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and disastrous situations”.

Trump never invoked the Insurrection Act during his first mandate.

But during the campaign for his second term, he suggested that it would change. Trump told an Iowa audience in 2023 that he had prevented the military to remove violence In cities and states during his first mandate, and said that if the problem sounds during his next mandate, “I do not expect.”

Trump also promised to deploy the National Guard to help achieve his Objectives for the application of immigrationAnd his best advisor Stephen Miller explained how it would be done: troops under sympathetic republican governors would send troops in neighboring states that refuse to participate, said Miller on “The Charlie Kirk Show” in 2023.

After Trump announced that he federalized the national guard troops on Saturday, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said that other measures could follow.

Hegseth wrote on the social media platform X that the Marines in active service at Camp Pendleton were on alert and would also be mobilized “if continuous violence”.